Carlton Supporters Club

Our boy can’t kick! It’s stupendous that we picked a kid at #3 and he can’t kick. Call me crazy but I fear we may have made a grave error.

I think we should give him 20 or 30 games in the seniors before we judge.

Should he be learning how to kick in the seniors? The young mans confidence is shattered  at the moment. Ziebell the thug will probably flatten him on Saturday because we can’t protect our youngin.

Our boy can’t kick! It’s stupendous that we picked a kid at #3 and he can’t kick. Call me crazy but I fear we may have made a grave error.

I think we should give him 20 or 30 games in the seniors before we judge.

That's what they said about you know who!

Should he be learning how to kick in the seniors? The young mans confidence is shattered  at the moment. Ziebell the thug will probably flatten him on Saturday because we can’t protect our youngin.

Kicking wasnt his strong point at TAC level, have pointed it out myself he misses easy targets and can be wasteful in front of goal but so does Cripps and another bloke called Judd wasnt great by foot either.
Dows strength is his running, contesting and ball winning and the way he can accelerate out of contests, think the recruiting of Obrien compliments Dow as Obrien is an excellent kick, good decision maker but lacks Dows contesting ability and acceleration. Dow to Obrien would be a good combo for CFC if it happens a lot in games..
Its very hard to get the perfect footballer, even Dangerfield sprays them into the forward 50, .......a young Pendlebury is probably the type of player we lack, good in close/heavy traffic with his evasive skills but very dangerous in the open creating for others and reliable in front of goal...

What would the world do without your insight....

It's a fair point
Height is only one variable, and if were talking centimetres....leap, reach, weight, strength, maturity, speed all have a bearing.

In the first couple of weeks our guys seem to have been out-bodied and out positioned many times by shorter players.

Form, confidence, awareness and effort are other factors.
All seem to be in play at present.

Some are fixable short term...others may require a season or two of experience, training and maturity.
Still others will be measured and found wanting.

Re Dow's kicking, he seems to be rushed at the moment, still only 3 games in and he is getting used to the speed of the game, I think as he starts to feel more comfortable at AFl level he will be more composed and will kick the ball better than what we have seen so far

Height is only a variable. My 'argument' has been simplified to too many talls.

In reality, the argument is generally that the opposition have too many quick smalls. A subtle difference. One that highlights the fact that some of our talls, specifically Weitering, cannot mind one of the many smalls that we often come up against....and even some of the quicker talls. Basically, we usually need more 'small forward minders' in our side.

Weiterings lack of acceleration, speed and agility is more of a factor than his height and i have stressed that previously.

FWIW, this week i think the matchups work a bit better for Weitering. Would still have preferred Marchbank in the side instead of Oshea. Which BTW is listed as 197, not 193 as quoted earlier. Meaning his matchup with Atley has 8cm difference, which in itself isn't a huge issue, but almost always means that Atley will be quicker and more agile as a result. I know Oshea can play smaller than his size suggests, but have not had a look at that under the microscope of AFL footy much as yet.

Height is only a variable. My 'argument' has been simplified to too many talls.

In reality, the argument is generally that the opposition have too many quick smalls. A subtle difference. One that highlights the fact that some of our talls, specifically Weitering, cannot mind one of the many smalls that we often come up against....and even some of the quicker talls. Basically, we usually need more 'small forward minders' in our side.

Weiterings lack of acceleration, speed and agility is more of a factor than his height and i have stressed that previously.

FWIW, this week i think the matchups work a bit better for Weitering. Would still have preferred Marchbank in the side instead of Oshea. Which BTW is listed as 197, not 193 as quoted earlier. Meaning his matchup with Atley has 8cm difference, which in itself isn't a huge issue, but almost always means that Atley will be quicker and more agile as a result. I know Oshea can play smaller than his size suggests, but have not had a look at that under the microscope of AFL footy much as yet.

I’m not convinced that our defence is too tall/slow but there are other issues, such as lack of experienced midfielders (I didn’t think we’d miss Gibbs as much), that are more critical.

Yep
....but speed is also only another variable.
Our blokes being outbodied, pushed off the ball, tackles broken etc means we're also lightbodied and 'weak' in comparison to many of the opposition.
It's another area where Weitering and others are struggling at the moment.
That may need another year or two of physical development....or it might never come!